Indonesian province ramps up infrastructure construction

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia’s South Sumatra province is planning a number of infrastructure projects to improve its competitiveness and prepare for the ASEAN Economic Community, which will take shape at the end of 2015.

Antara news agency reported that South Sumatra is offering a project to build a double-track railway from Muara Enim to the special economic zone of Tanjung Api-Api and its seaport.

The track would be used mainly for coal trains, and the transport of other commodities such as palm oil and rubber.

Ruslan Bahri, a senior official at the provincial administration, said seven countries have indicated interest in the project so far: China, Russia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and France.

According to the Capital Investment Coordinating Board, the double-track railway project will cost around 2.97 billion USD. The monorail project at the special economic zone in Tanjung Api-Api will be worth 550 million USD.

Antara quoted South Sumatra’s Deputy Governor Ishak Mekki as saying that the construction of infrastructure would be brisk in South Sumatra. Many infrastructure projects would be underway from 2015 to 2018 – the year Indonesia hosts the 18th Asian Games.

Some major infrastructure projects to be built in 2016 include double-track railways, a special economic zone covering over 12,000 hectares and several bridges, he added.

Foreign investment in South Sumatra grew quickly, reaching 10.24 trillion Rupiah (739.6 million USD) in the third quarter of 2015 – an increase of 118.43 percent year on year, according to Secretary of the province’s capital and investment service Sofyan Alipanca.-VNA